Posts Tagged ‘negotiations’

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened this week’s Sunday cabinet meeting with a grim warning about the current negotiations taking place between world powers and Iran — and the implications for Israel.

World powers currently negotiating with Iran are liable to reach a framework agreement in the coming weeks, Netanyahu said in a statement at the start of the meeting.

The agreement, if reached, is “an agreement that is liable to leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, which would endanger, first and foremost, the existence of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu warned.

“This is the same Iran that has taken over Lebanon and Syria and is now taking over Yemen and Iran,” he continued. “This is the same Iran that is preparing an active front against us both on the Golan Heights and in southern Lebanon. This same Iran cannot advance toward nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said.

In a clear response to the past week’s brouhaha over Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress – not a first-time event for the prime minister in any case – Netanyahu then added:

“As Prime Minister of Israel, I am obligated to make every effort in order to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons that would be aimed at the State of Israel. This effort is worldwide and I will go anywhere I am invited in order to enunciate the State of Israel’s position and in order to defend its future and its existence.”

U.S. President Barack Obama negotiated with Cuba to restore diplomatic relations “behind everyone’s back,” lawmakers charged Wednesday night after he announced the restoration of full diplomatic ties with the island nation.

News agencies in the United States buzzed on Thursday with the details of how Obama accomplished that task in a personal 45-minute telephone call on Tuesday with President Raul Castro. The call followed 18 months of secret talks between the White House and Cuban officials that also involved the highest levels of the Vatican – and Pope Francis himself.

As part of the deal, USAID worker Alan Gross returned from Cuba on a U.S. government 757 aircraft after five years in custody, along with a U.S. intelligence agent who had spent the last 20 years of a life term in prison.

The move, which was carried out without any knowledge of Congressional lawmakers on either side of the aisle, inflamed already hot tempers about Obama’s penchant for doing things on his own. Media commentators and some legislators on Thursday referred to the president as “King Obama.”

The president further exacerbated that anger by saying he was “ending an outdated approach that had failed to advance U.S. interests for decades… The previous approach failed to promote change, and it’s failed to empower or engage the Cuban people,” he said. “It’s time to cut loose the shackles of the past and reach for a new and better future with this country.”

Democratic lawmakers expressed shock and disappointment that the president had spent 18 months negotiating with an “enemy, Communist regime” without even consulting with any other legislator from his own party.

Members of the Cuban immigrant community were incensed that Obama had cut through more than half a century of sanctions and provided a “shot in the arm” to the repressive regime they fled for its brutality.

Castro said the 52-year embargo had caused enormous human and economic damage. He added there was still disagreement on many issues, including that of foreign policy.

Following the announcement, however, the Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped, possibly in response. Media commentators began discussing what the economic implications would be if Congress could not control corporate financial and production flow in and out of Cuba.

Iran is rapidly approaching its last and best chance with the United States to reach a diplomatic agreement over the parameters for its nuclear development program.

The November 24 deadline for the conclusion of negotiations between Tehran and world powers draws closer, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and European Union senior adviser Cathern Ashton locked into intense discussions in Muscat, Oman, that began yesterday (Sunday, Nov. 9) and are continuing into today (Monday, Nov. 10).

The yawning chasm that separates the sides must still be closed before a deal can be reached to prevent Tehran from producing a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. President Barack Obama, who appeared Sunday on “Face the Nation” on the CBS television network.

“There’s still a big gap. We may not be able to get there,” Obama said.

One of the major concerns in the Middle East – and the rest of the planet – is the possibility that once developed, Iran can and probably would sell its nuclear arms and/or technology to the myriad terrorist groups it generously supports. Most of those have set their sites on the destruction of Israel.

But the month of January will also bring with it a whole new world in the House of Representatives and the Senate – and with that, a drop in Iran’s options for compromise as well as possibly any wiggle room for further discussion, period.

U.S. President Barack Obama at that point will also be far more limited in his ability to protect the Iranian regime’s freedom to expand its uranium enrichment, which has allow it to continue its race towards an atomic weapon.

During Obama’s years in office, Iran has managed to enrich uranium far above the minimum level required for development of military-grade nuclear fuel. He approved a number of loopholes and exemptions for countries such as China and Turkey in economic sanctions imposed on international energy trade with Iran. The sanctions were designed to force Iran into compliance with United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requests to inspect sites and recommendations for ensuring Tehran’s nuclear program would remain within the guidelines for peaceful civilian use.

Iran, for its part, has consistently refused to limit its nuclear production or development in any way, ever. The Islamic Republic has also vowed throughout each administration since 1979 — the Islamic Revolution — to annihilate Israel, including very recently, despite the current president’s image as a so-called “moderate.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared that negotiating with Hamas means nothing except how to commit suicide, and Hamas proved his point this morning with another “cease-fire” rocket explosion that was heard by Gaza Belt residents but denied by the IDF.

He said in an interview to be aired Sunday by CNN, “As long as Hamas remains committed to our destruction, what’s there to negotiate with? The method of my suicide or what?”

The Jewish Press reported here earlier this morning that a rocket was launched but did not land in Israel, prompting the IDF to declare it was a “false alarm” and leading the public to think that there was no rocket launch. IDF spokesmen insisted there was no rocket fire, but residents in the Gaza Belt reported they heard an explosion.

The military’s definition of a “false alarm” is a bit fuzzy.

Spokesman told The Jewish Press Sunday, “The term means that an alarm was activated, though without any launch from Gaza. It is important for me to emphasize that each incident is a case of its own and any more information about a ‘false alarm’ is not connected to the use of the term itself.”

In clearer language, “false alarm” means there was no rocket launch – unless there was a rocket launch.

Nearly half a dozen rockets have been launched since the end of the recent cease-fire, and all of them fell in Gaza or in the sea. Several times, the IDF confirmed the launch along with stating that the Color Red siren was a”false alarm.” It appears the IDF spokesmen’s response depends on the political atmosphere.

The last cease-fire may or may remain the last one in a war that was escalated in 2005, immediately after the Sharon government expelled all Jews and withdrew all IDF personnel from to ensure safety for southern Israel.

In return, Hamas placed all of Israel within range of missile attacks until the temporary “cease-fire” two months ago that was to be followed by negotiations for a long-term halt in violence.

No one, except for perhaps Catherine Ashton and John Kerry, believes that will ever happen. Israel’s demand that Hamas dis arm makes great headlines for the vast majority of Israeli who are fed up with Hamas’ countless cease-fires that have proven to be nothing more than an opportunity for its terrorists to prepare to attack deeper into Israel in the next round.

Whether Hamas is testing rockets or simply is trying to prove its point that it can attack Israel if it wants, Sunday morning’s launch is a reminder that the cease-fire will last only as Hamas does not see any political, diplomatic or military gain in attacking again and suffering a devastating response from the IDF.

A stronger but less vocal reminder is Hamas’ continued attempts to smuggle by sea material for manufacturing weapons.

The Israeli Navy has foiled several maritime smuggling attempts in August, according to a Navy commander quoted by The Jerusalem Post Sunday. He told the newspaper, “We continue to see attempts to smuggle weapons or material to build them. The sea is a very convenient platform for smuggling. The terrorists still have one big smuggling tunnel, and it’s called the Mediterranean.”

An IDF Intelligence Unit Lieutenant Colonel told the Times of Israel, “Hamas will not relinquish its military capabilities or its military wing. The demand that it subordinate its military wing to the PA is unrealizable. For now, the talk of ‘one weapon,’ or ‘one authority’ is just talk.”

Amar Abu Aisha and Marwan Kawasmeh were killed after they opened fire when the soldiers who tried to take them into custody. The two were accused of abducting and murdering three Israeli teens – Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha’ary – as they hitchhiked home from yeshiva for the Sabbath on June 12, 2014, in Gush Etzion.

“We condemn the assassination of Amar Abu Aisha and Marwan Kawasmeh, and view it as an Israeli attempt to backtrack from a truce agreement,” said Izzat al-Risheq, a senior Hamas official living abroad. A second Hamas leader confirmed the Palestinian Authority unity government delegation had decided to proceed with the Cairo talks. Funerals for the two are to be held sometime Tuesday following afternoon prayers, according to media reports.

Cease-fire negotiations in Cairo between Israel and Gaza terrorist factions were moved up to Tuesday this week in deference to the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana.

Israel has confirmed it will send a delegation to the Egyptian capital to resume talks over a permanent cease-fire with Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization and other allied terrorists.

The main demand that will be brought to the table by Israel at this point is the requirement that Gazans be disarmed – the one issue that is likely to torpedo the talks altogether, since Hamas and its allies are refusing to lay down their weapons.

Hamas, meanwhile, is demanding the construction of a seaport and airport, both of which would constitute immediate, free import of sophisticated weaponry from Iran and other major international military backers. In the past Israel has not agreed to this condition.

In addition, Hamas is demanding that Israel free hundreds of terrorist prisoners in exchange for the bodies of IDF soldiers 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin and 1st Sgt. Oron Shaul, o.b.m. Both fell in the line of duty this summer while fighting in Israel’s counter terror Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.

Ahead of the cease-fire talks, Egypt is also hosting negotiations between Hamas and its rival in the Palestinian Authority unity government, the Fatah faction led by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.